The present invention relates to an automatic urine disposal device worn by the bedridden elderly, hospitalized patients, physically disabled people, and others who are unable to voluntarily control the bladder or to clean up urine on their own and also relates to a urine receptacle or a collecting pad used therefor.
Because of age, physical disability, hospitalization due to injury or illness, or other physical conditions, people sometimes become unable to voluntarily control the bladder or clean up urine on their own. In those situations, generally, a catheter is directly inserted into the bladder to discharge urine or paper diaper is used.
When a catheter is directly inserted into the bladder, the wearer feels great discomfort and there is also the probability of injuring the urethra or bladder or the occurrence of an infection. Thus, expertise as well as special sterilized utensils is required.
When a paper diaper is worn for a prolonged period of time, urine may leak, the wearer can become uncomfortable, get stuffy, or skin troubles such as rashes may occur. To avoid this, the paper diaper must be frequently changed, which will impose considerable physical and mental burdens on both the wearer and the caretaker. Imposed on a daily basis, those physical and mental burdens become a big concern and a significant economical burden as well.
To avoid those problems, a method has been presented in which urine that has been absorbed by a urine absorbent material of a urine collecting pad is discharged by means of a vacuum pump and drawn into a urine tank. The vacuum pump suctions air from a sealed urine tank and due to the difference between the tank's pressure and the atmospheric pressure, urine absorbed in the urine collecting pad is drained into the urine tank. Automatic urine disposal devices of such configuration have been disclosed in Japanese Application Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 07-171182 and No. Hei 08-191852.
In the conventional urine disposal devices, urine is drained while the urine collecting pad abuts up against the wearer's urinating part, that is, the urine collecting pad's urine absorbent material is being exposed to atmospheric air, and therefore, the percentage of urine collection from the urine collecting pad (urine absorbent material) is low. For this reason, the amount of urine which remains in the urine collecting pad (urine absorbent material) is large, which makes the wearer feel uncomfortable. To reduce the amount of urine which remains in the urine collecting pad, the capacity of the vacuum pump must be increased. Accordingly, it becomes necessary to increase the size and volume of the urine disposal device. Thus, in fact, the conventional urine disposal device has no practical use as a portable urine disposal device. As stated above, in the conventional techniques, there are problems in that the amount of urine which remains in the urine collecting pad is large and to reduce the amount, the urine disposal device must be large and heavy.